Sweden’s ‘Treat’ may have 25 years of music playing under their belts, but they’re as powerful and rockin’ as ever

Treat has been releasing AOR and melodic hard rock in the finest Swedish tradition for 25 years now. Their latest release, “Coup de Grace,” is arguably among the best they’ve ever recorded as now, older and wiser, the boys write about politics, lifelong love and other things on the minds of husbands and fathers. Nalley, the bassist of Treat, generously took some time to entertain a few of our questions.

Q: I was blown away by “Coup de Grace” and its hard rock that never compromises on good writing and lyrics: tell us more about the vision for the new record.

A: I guess the vision was just to make good music, write good songs, enjoy ourselves and hopefully we will make the audience as happy as we are! The new album is a statement for what we are today. What the future will bring, we don’t know, but we will carry on playing as long as we feel we have somrthing to deliver.

Q: How much has becoming a husband and father influenced what you like to write about now as compared to years ago?

A: Everything is changing all the time and so does life. Becoming a father and to have children of your own changes a lot of things – to the better! You suddenly get the insight and realize that there are more things in life than “Rock n’ Roll All Night and Party Every Day.” Well, we still like to party, but now we definitely are aware of “the meaning of life” and of course that has a big influence on the songwriting.

Q: Having been in the business for 25 years; what lessons can you impart to musicians just starting out?

A: The reason for playing and performing music must always be to enjoy yourself and to have fun! No matter how old you are: always be the kid you were when you started. Look at me, I´m still 12! [laughs]

Q: What was the inspiration for the politically-charged songs like “The War Is Over” and “Skies Of Mongolia”?

A: I guess it’s the awareness as an adult of today. Look at the world: there are a lot of shit happening everywhere. At our age, I think you have the permission of sometimes being a little bit more serious.

Q: “Paper Tiger” is one of my favorite tracks on the record: what does this song represent for you?

A: “Paper Tiger” is also my favourite song of the album! To me it represents power: the riff and the chorus, and the whole atmosphere of the song is breathing good rock music. And just listen to the bass sound in the first verse: that rocks. I love it!

Q: What is the story behind the cover art on “Coup de Grace”?

A: The story was just to do something more than just a regular photo session. We wanted to do something theatrical. Patrick, the keyboard player, has an enormous interest in history and the history of wars. That’s sort of his hobby. War is hell, but it has always been there and it´s still going on. I guess we’re the soldiers of rock: we use our instruments as weapons and play until we bleed! [laughs]

Q: What other Swedish melodic rock bands would you count as your favorites?

A: I like Europe! They´re great! […] My Swedish favourites are a band from the mid ’70s called Neon Rose, but that’s more sort of classic hard rock.

Q: What more can we expect from Treat in 2010 and beyond?

A: First of all, we’re having a release party here in Stockholm on March 17th, then we’re going to Norway, then a few more gigs here in Sweden and from April 22nd – May 5th we will do a European tour with two other Swedish bands; The Poodles and H.E.A.T. We will go to Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium. Later on this summer, we will also appear on a festival as support for Europe! We’ll see what happens in the autumn: we don’t know yet!